Friday, August 03, 2018

120 battements par minute


2017, France, directed by Robin Campillo

A fascinating fictionalized counterpart to the American documentary How to Survive a Plague; both films look at the early years of their respective countries' Act Up movements, combating official indifference or indeed active malfeasance in relation to those with HIV/AIDS. The film doesn't hew strictly to the historical record, but is deeply invested in depicting Act Up's unique, tension-filled internal debate process, never sugarcoating the robust discussions. It also gives an exceptionally strong sense of how the realities of the time period impacted gay identity (gay men are the most prominent activists, though part of the French debate was to ensure adequate representation of all affected constituencies), with the suggestion that this is very different for subsequent generations. 

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Boston, Massachusetts, United States